LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) – MassHighway has banned all flags and “welcome home” banners for soldiers from highway overpasses, saying the decorations could cause a major accident if they fall on the traffic below.
Patriotic displays and signs welcoming soldiers back from overseas deployment have become increasingly common since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
About two weeks ago, work crews stripped bridges on interstates 93 and 495 of flags and banners after noticing an increase in the number of displays. “The overall goal here is to keep the highways as safe as possible for all the drivers,” MassHighway spokesman Erik Abell said.
“We don’t want a situation where something could be falling off an overpass.”
“It does not have anything to do with the messages on the signs or the flags,” Abell said.
He said the ban includes messages spelled out in cups that are stuffed in chain-link fences on overpasses.
Linda Noone of Reading said she was “heartbroken” over the new policy. She decorated the Route 129 bridge over Interstate 93 with American and military flags for her daughter, Michelle Carter, a Marine who served in Iraq and is scheduled to return there in March.
“I felt that they needed to see something when they came home, and they need to see something when they are leaving,” Noone said.
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